


Ashes To-

by ShippingEverything



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Bad pseudonyms, Drabble, Gen, Second Chances, its about Friendship and Forgiveness and Growth, obviously spoilers up to s5 just by virtue of peter being there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:55:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22329694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShippingEverything/pseuds/ShippingEverything
Summary: Five sits beside him, not looking away even once. Peter Necropolis picks at a stubborn scab on his arm and looks back down at the map. Five clears their throat again. “The trick is genuinely feeling remorse, I think. And trauma. There’s always got to be a lot of trauma.”or: peter, five, and the secret to second chances
Relationships: Runner Five & Peter Lynne
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	Ashes To-

**Author's Note:**

> > "And I reckon if you can go home, if you can be saved, you’d let your old pal Runner Three in on the secret, eh? That wouldn’t be too much to ask for in return?"  
> \- Simon Lauchlan, S3M48 (Reunion Tour), clip 6
> 
> i Wish i could put that line in the summary but it'd be a MAJOR spoiler so, only y'all reading get to see the line that inspired me (that whole conversation about "monsters" and "chances" inspired me actually. i ran reunion tour Twice while thinking about/writing this and cried once). i just Constantly feel a lot of things abt peter and every now and then i have to write a peter fic or else i'll explode
> 
> anyway Please enjoy this drabble!

Peter startles as someone clears their throat above him, looking up from the maps Janine’s had him look at. “Yes?”

Five -- god, _Runner Five_ in the flesh, not dead like he’d thought, standing whole in front of him and tilting their head at him -- signs, “ **You did it.** ”

“Uh… yeah,” He says, after Five shows no interest in elaborating. They always were a person of few words. “Janine asked me to look at these and mark where I knew Sigrid had troops stationed. Even a simple circus man can do that.”

“ **A simple circus man?** ”

“Yes? That’s where you met me, if you don't remember. I know- I mean, I've heard that runners can experience an awful lot of head trauma, but I would hope that you could remember _that_ ," Peter replies. Five narrows their eyes at him consideringly. _This_ , right here, is exactly why Peter hates hanging around the other Noah Base inhabitants. He'd avoided everything Abel for a while, but then there was the circus with its whole _Abel Apocalypse Adventures_ gambit which was- Well, it was mostly just funny, especially every time he thought about what the _real_ Abel residents would say if they saw it. He'd only come here because he'd heard that Five, Janine, and Maxine were dead, because he'd heard the Minister's slander-filled radio show, and the idea of leaving what was left of Abel to struggle against the Ministry tugged at the conscience that he still, regrettably, had. Finding out everyone is still alive and well has been wonderful, of course, and it’s made him want to stick around, but sticking around has come with the clear negative of how people are always _staring_ at him.

Five sits beside him, not looking away even once. If it was a year ago, if they were in the Rec Center relaxing after a run and Five was staring him down, Runner Three would’ve just raised his chin and stared right back. Peter Necropolis picks at a stubborn scab on his arm and looks back down at the map. Five clears their throat again. “ **The trick is genuinely feeling remorse, I think. And trauma. There’s always got to be a lot of trauma.** ”

Peter blinks at Five. “I’m sorry-”

“ **Yeah, that too. Apology helps,** ” They sign, like it makes sense. They sit there, _looking_ at Peter like this all means something.

“I don’t think we’re on the same page at all,” Peter confesses. Five’s shoulders rise and fall dramatically as they huff, exaggerating their annoyance as normal. Peter sighs, “I’m _sorry_ , okay, I get the feeling that you think you’re being all wise and _Five-ish_ , but I really don’t get it.”

Five rolls their eyes, a dramatic full body motion that Peter’s _fairly sure_ they picked up from him. He’s not sure whether to be flattered or offended.

“ **It’s fine. I didn’t understand at first either. You’ll get it, eventually,** ” They say as they stand, patting Peter on the shoulder. “ **Just be careful not to be burned again, alright? I don’t know how many times a man can survive a cleansing fire.** ”

Peter stares after Five as they go, their last words resonating deeply in his chest, plucking at some long-forgotten memory. _Do they…?_ He wonders before shutting down the thought altogether. They couldn’t. He looks so different, sounds so different, acts so different now, he can barely recognize himself. There’s no way _Five_ , of all people, has figured it out.

**Author's Note:**

> peter: theres NO WAY anyone at noah base has figured me out  
> everyone at noah base: hey janine have you noticed that peter is literally runner three
> 
> thank you so so much for reading, comments, kudos, and bookmarks are Much appreciated, and i hope you enjoyed!
> 
> [Main Tumblr (pldubrahs)](http://www.pldubrahs.tumblr.com) | [Writing Tumblr (nacreousglowclouds)](http://nacreousglowclouds.tumblr.com/) | [Personal Twitter (@squidias)](http://twitter.com/squidias)


End file.
